A door? THE door?

Some of you know about the decisions that I am trying to make for next year. I've also posted enough here that if you are a smart, consistent reader of my blog, you have probably picked up on what is going on. But to get everyone on the same page, here is a quick recap:

Originally, I applied for a master's program which would have allowed me to get my MSN after getting my BA in psychology. (At UW, it's called the MEPN program. Other schools call it by different yet similar names.) Anyhow, I applied two places and didn't get accepted to either one. Okay, I dealt with that. Maybe I'm not meant to be in the MEPN program, but I still really want to do nursing. I then decided to apply to some BSN programs. Out of three, I was denied outright at one, put as #28 on a waiting list at the second, and now I have an interview at the third. On a side note here, all of this rejection is starting to get rather infuriating. I have good grades. I have good extracurriculars. I have good experience what with my volunteering and work experience. I am able to write a decent essay/statement of intent. What gives?

Anyhow, back to the subject at hand... the catch in all of this? The school I have the interview at just happens to be WSU, our very own cross-state rival. Not to mention the fact that it requires a move from Seattle, where I am very active in my church, to a city where there is not even a church of my particular denomination. This isn't to say that I am not willing to do all of this, I am just rather confused at how the Lord is going to work all of this out and what His plans are for me. Anyway, I have the interview in Spokane Saturday, so we will see how that goes. I'm not in for sure, but I am one step closer. I am trying to tell myself that being a Cougar would not be the end of the world, but I'm not sure if I am believing it yet. Apparently this UW/WSU switch happens more often than I thought, though, evidenced by this picture that Warren took for me in the school parking lot:

Whoa boy...

For my Psychology of Music class, I just made an online survey to use as a part of my research project (I would love to have you guys take it if you want to, but I'll need to get you the link). Anyway, UW has this very cool, super user-friendly online publication software that I used to make my survey. While I was signed into my account, though, I ran across this:

http://portfolio.washington.edu/melinw/my-university-community-portfolio-original/index.html

It is an online portfolio that I had to put together my first year of college in my Freshman Interest class. Whoa boy. I'm sorta scared by what I found in there. My writing has improved a LOT, I am over brooding about my move to Seattle, and I am no longer dating Matthew. Honestly, I'm not really sure why he made it in there in the first place. Oh well. I guess it just goes to show that once something is on the Internet, it is always on the Internet. It also makes me sorta fearful about what I will think when I read my old blog postings in say, 10 years.

Anyway, y'all are free to peruse it as you see fit. And if you do, have fun and bear in mind that that was SOOOOOOOO fours years ago! =)

A little too close to home

If you guys haven't heard the news about Virginia Tech yet, then I'm not quite sure where you have been all day. But here is a link in case you want more details: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-main17apr17,0,1599658,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines.

When I heard about this shooting, apparently the worst ever in the history of the US, it hit me really hard. I'm not sure why exactly, I think partly because of the shooting that happened two weeks ago at UW. When that one happened, it got me thinking about how devastating it would be if somebody had just opened fire on the campus, as opposed to the murder-suicide they later determined it to be. I thought about all the people I would worry about and how I wouldn't even feel safe enough to go back to school. And then here, 2 weeks to the day since the shooting at UW, this horrific shooting happens at Virginia Tech. What was even more scary to me was that when this guy first struck, only two people were killed so they assumed it was a domestic violence sort of thing. It wasn't until 2 hours later that he entered the other building and killed and injured so many people. What would have happened if the shooting at UW hadn't been the isolated domestic violence event and the guy had later opened fire in the middle of Red Square once everyone thought the coast was clear? I shutter to think any of these thoughts and, like I said, I think that is why this shooting unnerved me so.

My heart goes out to all of those involved and they are in my prayers.

Aren't we all in college now?

Thus far this quarter I have managed to refrain from saying too much about my classes because I fear that it starts to bore you all after awhile. Suffice it to say, I have been extremely busy with classes, even though it is only the third week of the quarter. For better or for worse, my professors seem to have front-loaded almost all of my classes. Which means that come May when I will REALLY not want to be in school anymore, I won't have as much work. But for right now, I have a lot of work.

For my Psychology of Music class, we have to peer review each other's papers. I was appalled, flabbergasted, and aghast at the quality of the two papers that I reviewed this week. So, for your enjoyment, I have included some of the more interesting (read: hard to understand because the sentences don't even make sense) parts of these two papers. Let me know what you guys think! I am amazed that these people made it to a 400 level college class with writing abilities like this.

Person 1:
Furthermore, if we find a difference between the population of British young adults and American ones, a follow up question will be, "Is the type of musical genre preference as coping strategies among adolescents then dictated by the geographical and cultural popularity of a genre?"

In addition to the fMRI method, an extended survey with the students' parents and guardians shall be conducted to get more information on the family background of the student and possibly other important factors contributing to the subject's musical preference and coping methods.

Person 2:
As a society music is heard from the time one rises with the soothing sounds of an alarm clock, to when one walks down the street with their i-pod, to the background music played in almost every store, cafe, and even office. This analogy of course only holds if we assume that music is that which is defined in a Western cultural sense, but for the purposes of this paper, this is how music will be defined.

There could be many interesting approaches to such a topic, one being that an original full length film be created and have music paired with the sympathetic scenes that would not be of the usual content.

Nevermind the poor sentence structure, what about the lack of basic grammar?!? I know that I have a very distinct writing style and an important part of being able to review is being able to offer advice without trying to completely convert the piece to your style, but Hello?!?! What happens if you can't even understand what has been written. *Frustrations!* I think they thought that if they just threw in a bunch of big words and made their sentences long and complicated, it would make them sound scholarly. Hmmm... I think not.

Look what I found!

Tonight I did a lot of research for my psychology of music class. Since I was sort of in the researching mood, I decided to Google my name... and look what I found!

Apparently there is a hotel with my name on the small Greek island of Santorini! Isn't it pretty?

And then there is the private beach resort in Malaysia that also shares my name! Again, isn't it pretty?

How cool is this room that you can stay in?

Long story short... I think I just determined the two places that I would go on my dream vacation. Yay for having a slightly exotic name!

This is just too good to not post...

*OLD VERSION*: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

******************************
*UPDATED VERSION*: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green." Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. Eventually the grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote!

My day...

The highlights (or not) of my day:

- I didn't get shot
- My coworker had another seizure
- It was payday (translation: pure craziness)
- I got paid

Woohoo... and now I am going to bed. I know that I haven't been posting very often, but honestly, I think that you guys probably would prefer it this way. I have been so stressed out about nursing school/post graduation plans that my posts would be a random jumble of the worries in my head, and since I don't even like what is going on in there, I figure I will spare you guys the misery. I'll post again soon though, I promise. Just bare with me... please.

Here I sit...

... in Warren's CAD class. Whatever that is. He explains his architectural things to me and I listen and try to understand. But a couple more days of this and I think that my eyes will be completely glazed over. I am glad he is the one responsible for designing these things. Oh well, when I met some of his architecture friends yesterday and he told them that I was interested in nursing, they were like "Why nursing?" and I was like "Why not?"... just goes to show that we all have our areas of expertise I guess.

Anyway, so I am currently in Spokane and like I said, I'm wasting time while Warren is in class. Because of that fact, I am EXTREMELY happy that it appears that most everybody has updated their blogs this weekend cause it is giving me something to do. Plus I get to update my blog as well. I am sorry that I sort of died out there half way through the quarter. That seems to be the story of my life. Oh well... I did fairly awesome and came through with two 4.0's and a 3.6, which makes me happy. And now I only have ONE QUARTER LEFT!!! Yay!! I know that if I get into nursing school I still have two more years, but I AM actually graduating from UW at the end of this quarter. June 9th. I am excited. I now have something to show for all of my hard work. I just have to get through this next quarter. I am taking:

Social Problems - 5 credits
Psychology of Music - 5 credits
Microbiology Lab - 2 credits
Basic Statistics - 5 credits

For a total of 17 credits. So if you don't hear from me once the quarter starts, you can blame it on three things... 1) My schedule 2) Senioritis 3) The nicer weather.

As for my trip to Spokane, it has been fun and entertaining thus far. Yesterday I went to the WSU nursing school and got a tour from one of the students. More importantly (to me) was that she was willing to answer all of my stupid and inane questions. Everybody keeps asking me where I want to be next year, but I haven't even let myself dream about that because I am tired of getting excited just to be dealt another round of rejection. But I will say this, Spokane is a pretty okay place and if this is where the Lord wants me to be next year, I could deal with that.

On the way to Spokane from Seattle we took a little side trip down to Pullman (where the actual WSU campus is located) and Warren was more than excited to give me a tour. And it beat me up. I still have a blister on my toe... which is odd cause I NEVER get blisters and I do a lot of walking already, so I wouldn't have thought it to be a problem. I went to Sonic and Dutch Bros. here in Spokane and I hear tell that there is an Arctic Circle somewhere. I intend to find it. Last night I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner but Warren had too much homework to help me so I made us some grilled cheese and tomato soup and COMPLETELY flooded one of his burners with tomato soup. Then I got to clean his stove, it was great fun. On a side note: I am beginning to understand why Warren invited me... he likes having a slave. Just kidding! What else has happened? Warren has hit/poked/elbowed or nearly hit/poked/elbowed me in the face/neck/eye a frightening number of times over the course of this spring break (we are talking close to 15 times). Consequently, I am becoming increasingly nervous around him... not really, I am just taking my safety into my own hands now. Oh yah, we were in Safeway and I was following him when he stopped suddenly with his foot stuck out. Being oh-so-graceful, I tripped over said foot and went flying down the aisle. I'm telling you, he is out to get me and I am not exactly sure why =). Anyhow, this has been long enough. I could make it longer cause I have all the time in the world right now, but I know that you guys don't have all the time in the world to read it. So I will say "Adieu" for now... although I imagine that I will be back again soon.

Hi Guys!

No, I am not dead.
Yes, I have been extremely busy.
Yes, I am now on spring break.
No, I don't have reliable internet access.

So I am currently in Spokane to visit my friend and to check out the WSU nursing school. I'll write more later, but I just wanted to let you guys know what I am up to so that you won't send out a search party. I will definitely update you guys more later and maybe even add some pretty pictures. But this isn't my computer, so it would be sorta hard for me to add them now.

And that's all for now... I hope you guys are all doing well!

Hahaha. Ouch.

I feel like you're of course Princess Leia, and I'm trying to figure out, am I your brother, Luke, or your hero, Han Solo?

This was created by the website Boundless, which is for 20-something Christians. All about how NOT to pull a DTR. Don't know what a DTR is? Then maybe you should check out the website.

My New Love

It being Valentine's Day and all, I thought that I would share my new love with you... Running! I have rediscovered running. It is way different for me now, though, than when I did it in middle school/high school. Whereas before it was something that I forced myself to do, it is now getting to the point that if I don't go on my run, I feel antsy and I can feel the stress building in my body. I know, maybe that sounds weird... but until you have done it, there isn't really any way to explain how good it makes you feel. I figured that I wasn't getting the same amount of exercise as last quarter since I didn't have marching band brutalizing me and that I should probably find some other way to release steam. Enter in running. I jog about 3 miles, 3 times a week. Not that far, but it is far enough to keep my blood pumping and make me feel better. So yah, tomorrow is a "running day" and that makes me excited! Now if I could just find some headphones that would actually stay in my ears as I ran...

Shun the Non-Believer... SHhhhhhhhhhhhhuuuuunnnnnnnn

Want cool? This is where it's at:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JPONTneuaF4&mode=related&search=

P.S. Yes, I am just sorta avoiding doing my homework right now

Does something smell fishy?

My animal behavior professor has been gone for the past week, collecting these:

Scary, huh? I flipped out when I saw the pictures he showed us today, fish are not supposed to look like that. But the scariest part to me, simply because it is so weird, is that these fish sing. They sing! Like birds! To attract mates. I don't care what my professor says, fish are not supposed to be singing.

So yah, more about these fish. They are called plainfin midshipman fish and they live all along the Pacific coast. They live in deepish water of about 300 feet, but they come into the tidal flats to breed, to the extent that at low tide they may actually be out of the water for 2 hours or so. They do their humming-singing thing to attract mates. They are bio-luminescent. Oh yah, and they growl. Apparently if you walk along the beach during the summer when they are mating and you hear a funny noise coming from a nearby rock in the tidal flat, it is because the fish is growling to defend its territory. Gah! I'm not sure why, but something about these fish really creeps me out. And they are my professor's pride and joy. Go figure.

This is, in a word, amazing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crfrKqFp0Zg&NR

Clocks!

And no, I don't mean the Coldplay song.

So my parents just bought themselves an anniversary clock, never mind that the anniversary for which they should have purchased the clock is long past. They were shopping around. If you know my parents, you know exactly what I am talking about. Anyhow, they brought home their new prized possession and set it up in our dining room. Fine, dandy, that's great. But you add to that the grandfather clock in our living room. And the ship's clock that is normally at the church in my dad's office but that just came back from getting cleaned and is now at his desk here. There are a LOT of clocks making noises in my house. They all ring and they all have their own distinct sound. And my parents being who they are, each clock is set for a slightly different time so that they can hear all of the chimes separately. I don't even know which clock is technically correct anymore. I think that I am beginning to go insane. Every 15 minutes, a cacophony of sound erupts from that end of the house. Great fun.

On another note, I found this great website today: www.roadsideamerica.com. It is an amazing way to waste time, in case you are ever in the market. I really want to go here, the one in Oregon that is just outside of Grants Pass. Apparently it is the most authentic one around. So which one of my Southen Oregon friends wants to let me stay with them so that I can make my pilgrimage to this amazing place?? (As well as possibly joining me on my journey...)

Oh the excitement that is my life...

So we have gotten a couple of new people at work lately and quite honestly, I don't know who they are, where they come from, or if they are going to stay around our office. We ALWAYS have new people coming through, being trained, leaving for another office. It is terribly confusing. Anyhow, it became apparent to me last week that one of these people was going to stay on at our office, which is fine cause we have lost a couple of people lately.

**Insert here my bitter complaints about how I am told nothing as a part-timer!!**

The other day at work, my new co-worker started having a seizure. Now, unfortunately, I have been around a few times to see this happen to other people. So while it was frightening, I knew what was happening and reacted calmly and quickly. I wasn't anywhere near her and my co-workers were already doing everything that I would have done had I gone over, so I picked up the phone and called 911. Unfortunately, I have also had what seems to be more than my fair share of opportunities to call 911, so that didn't even phase me to much. As I am telling the operator what is happening and being asked questions about whether or not this girl has a history of seizures and am saying that I don't know because she is new, my co-workers look over at me and tell me to get off the phone!! And I was like, "WHAT?!?!??!! Are you out of your mind?!?!?" You usually need to call for medical help when someone is having a seizure. So watching the girl, I decide that I am not getting off the phone and that I am in fact going to have them get the paramedics. The girl comes around and appears to be okay, but I know enough about seizures to know that this could just be a pause in the seizing. And more importantly, I am assuming that this is the first time that she has ever had a seizure. So yah, when an apparently perfectly healthy person has a seizure for no reason, in my book, that is a good reason to call 911. I thought that all my co-workers were a bunch of lunatics because they were just standing there watching her, not making any move to call for help.

After all of this has gone down and my co-workers ask me if I have called 911, I hear them say, "We aren't supposed to call unless it lasts longer than 2 minutes." What?!?! So you guys KNEW about this? And you didn't tell ME?!?! If someone has a seizure disorder, don't you think that I, even as a part-time person, should be made aware of this? Otherwise I am going to call 911 every time. I was so frustrated that nobody bothered to mention this to me. I wouldn't have treated her differently at all, I just would have known how to react on the off chance that she did have a seizure. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...... methinks I need a new job.

Case in Point

The end of an era... sorta

It is official... today I signed the paper that says, "Yes!! Please get me out of here!" Although honestly, I'm not ready to be done with college, only because that means that I have real life to face. So I am doing the cowardly thing and running back to take two more years... =). Nah, that isn't REALLY why I am doing it, but I do still wonder if when it is time for me to start my real life whether or not I will be up for the challenge. I'm pretty sure that I will be able to hack it, but for me, there is some comfort in the idea of being in school for the rest of my life. In one of my classes we did a get-to-know-you sort of thing and we were asked what our dream job would be. I said that my dream job would be to be a professional student. There are SO many things that I wish that I could learn, classes that I would take, subject areas in which I have barely scratched the surface. Sure, it is great that I finally feel like I have an expertise of sorts, but I love learning and it saddens me that I will never get to take all of the cool classes out there.

On a similar note, two of my SON applications are done and I have two more left to do. I am REALLY trying to listen and follow the Lord on this, but it is still hard to know if I am doing the right thing and where I should be applying and all of that. My dad and I were talking and I was expressing frustration and uncertainty about all of this and he said something that really helped me. He said that sometimes the Lord does speak in lightening bolts and sudden visions and all that stuff, but mostly He wants us to listen to Him but then use our own intellect to figure out what is the best. And it scares me to think that really He may be leaving this decision up to me, but I figure He knows what He is doing and He did give me a brain capable of logical thought for a reason. So yah, never a dull moment. If I wasn't freaking out about this, I am sure that I would be worried about something else, because unfortunately, I don't think that it is in my nature to NOT worry. But I am learning to live with that =).

And last but not least... Lisa and Josh got engaged 2 weeks ago!! I am excited for them and these next couple of months will be busy because I am her maid of honor. I told her that I didn't know what a maid of honor was supposed to do, but that I would Google it... typical me. Anyhow, that is exciting. I actually have a lot of exciting things on the calendar for the next couple of months, but somehow I also have to finish out my last two quarters. Like I said, never a dull moment.

What you have all been waiting for... me!

www.blogger.com, MsPoppins20, password, new post... okay, I can do this. Just making sure that I remembered how to post to this thing!

I am really sorry guys. All you have had to look at for the past month was that lovely seagull picture. But in my defense, I stopped posting because nobody was posting and I had the feeling that I was just talking to myself. And why post about my life when I already know what is going on? Huh? But it appears that some of you are back, which means that I will gladly post and let you know what has been happening in my life. Although I may do this in a couple of posts, so as to alleviate as much confusion as possible.

So, uhh, last quarter was good. I got all A's, which made me happy. And then all of a sudden I was on winter break and using all my free time to do one of three things: 1. Work 2. Volunteer 3. Work on applications. Yes, that is right, even more applications. It seems that the Lord has different plans for me than I thought. I wasn't accepted to either of the graduate nursing programs I applied to, I think in major part that was because these particular programs value "life experience," of which I don't have much seeing as how I am just graduating from undergrad this spring. So after a couple of days of frustration and panic, I pulled myself together and decided that I would just apply to some regular nursing schools (to get a BSN instead of an MSN). I have been working on that stuff practically all break, and it feels like it will never end, but for better or for worse, the deadlines are coming and it will all soon be over. Hopefully I will get into one of those. I trust what the Lord is doing, but it is just hard to convince myself that the world hasn't ended just because my life isn't going according to the exact plans that I had formulated. On the plus side, the further I get from "the rejection" (as I fondly refer to it), the more I am beginning to think that this was a blessing in disguise and that maybe that program wouldn't have been right for me after all. Anyhow, we will see.

I enjoyed Christmas, New Years, blah blah blah... spent some time in Portland, got sick, hung out with some people I haven't seen in FOREVER. Basically just had a good time over break, but classes started Wednesday and I am already back to the grind stone. It seems that one of my classes is going to be more work than I had anticipated, but it shouldn't be too hard. The others will be okay, I think. Like I said, once these applications are done, that will help a lot. And just for fun, to prove to you how big of a geek I am... this was my favorite Christmas present this year:

And a close second would be:

I am tired...

... and apparently addicted to the internet. I also don't speak English or have a conscience. More to come on this later.

And here is pretty much the most random picture I could find on my computer: